Zodiac War
by Gryphinwyrm7
Summary: Marinette awakens to find herself in an alien landscape, pitted against a strange opponent, without Tikki and having only the Mouse Miraculous to aid her. Who has done this to her and why? Who has this kind of power and why are they making fight? And will they strike again?
1. Rat

**Zodiac War**

**Rat**

Marinette blinked awake as she realized that the sun was shining down on her. She was a little confused at first. Where was she? Did she fall asleep on the balcony again? Why was it so hot?

She sat up, still in her pajamas. She was in the middle of a rocky outcropping in a desert. That was why it was so hot. She staggered to her feet.

_What happened? _She thought. _Was this an Akuma? _

"Tikki?" She called out, her voice sounding a little hoarse.

"I haven't seen her, Guardian," the familiar high-pitched squeak of a Kwami called out, as it zipped up next to her.

"Mullo?" Marinette looked surprised, and reached up to her neck to find the Mouse Miraculous hanging around it.

She then reached up to her ears and let out a sigh of relief upon finding that the Ladybug Miraculous were still there, though there was no sign of Tikki.

"Mullo, how did we get here?" Marinette asked. The mouse-like Kwami shook her head.

"I do not know Guardian," Mullo said. "I found myself activated just moments ago, my Miraculous hanging around your neck. I saw no sign of Tikki, nor of anything familiar."

"Is that a fern?" Marinette asked, approaching what looked like a weirdly shaped plant sitting in the sun. It suddenly shuddered, its leaves retracting and the trunk collapsing to reveal a segmented invertebrate similar to a centipede or worm that hurriedly scampered away from Marinette and Mullo, who both let out a squeak of surprise.

"That was so creepy!" Marinette yelped.

"I've never seen anything like that thing before," Mullo said shaking, clearly scared. Marinette had never seen a Kwami scared before, given that they were tiny gods of abstract concepts, they had little they needed to be scared of.

"Could someone have used to the Horse Miraculous or maybe an Akuma to transport us to an alien planet?" Marinette asked. There had been four alien invasions last year, after all, though Majestia had thwarted them all and sent the invaders packing.

Mullo simply shrugged.

"BELT BLASTER!" a voice called out from above them.

An energy beam shot at Mullo, fortunately, the Kwami simply phased through it, but both Kwami and human let out a yelp of surprise.

"Servants of Turbo Troll beware!" a voice declared from above them.

Marinette looked up in surprise to see a small green gnome in blue armor staring down at them from atop the rocky outcropping.

"You may have dropped Gnomekop into this harsh and unforgiving desert! But Gnomekop will prevail!"

"An Akuma?" Marinette wondered. "Or maybe a Sentimonster?"

**CHAMPIONS! **A deep booming voice reverberated around the rocks.

**We have brought you here, to this neutral Universe, to determine your powers and skills. Each of you possesses an enchanted object that contains infused Zodiac Magic. The first to claim the talisman from their opponent will be returned home with their spoils!**

"Your challenge is acceptable, mysterious voice!" Gnomekop declared, eying the necklace dangling around Marinette's neck.

Marinette immediately realized the danger she was in.

"MULLO! LET'S GET SQUEAKY!" she declared, and the small grey Kwami was sucked into the necklace as Marinette's pink and white pajamas were replaced with a grey single-piece suit of indeterminate material. A mask flashed over her face, and her signature pigtails transformed into round space-buns, giving her head a 'mouse-like' look.

She grabbed her jump rope, the signature weapon of the Mouse-Themed super-heroine, and swung it upwards, wrapping around a particularly tall outcropping, and swing away in a fashion similar to how she swung through Paris on her yoyo as Ladybug.

"You will not get away from Gnomekop so easily!" the green gnome yelled, leaping from rock to rock.

Multimouse swung into a clearing among the rocks, which was filled with dozens of a 5-meter high mounds, with what appeared to be resin windows inlaid in them. Multimouse could also see holes around the base of these towers.

"MULTITUDE!" she declared, activating her special power. Her black boots began glowing as copies of herself began exiting from them. The "original' began shrinking as this occurred. By the time Gnomekop had caught up, there were around 20 Multimice, each one running towards a different tower. Gnomekop managed to look confused for a moment, but then…

"BELT BLASTER!" he declared, firing the blast from his waist at the nearest tower, blowing it apart.

The Multimouse who had been running towards that tower barely had time to look surprised as hundreds of insects, similar in appearance to ants or termites came pouring out of the mounds, rushing past the various Multimice, and charging right at Gnomekop to defend their homes.

From her small-scale vantage point, the Multimice could see that the insects were divided into classes, like termites or ants, and that a smaller class appeared to be riding on the back of a larger mount-like insect. Multimouse wasted no time, using her jump ropes each copy of herself began swinging onto the back of one of the termite-like mounts and riding them forward towards Gnomekop.

"Belt-Blaster!" Gnomekop yelled, firing off another blast at the swarming insects. The mounted smaller insects began firing off streams of a stinky sticky glue from their mandibles, striking the green gnome and binding him to the ground.

"GNOME POWER!" it angrily cried out.

Multimouse then noticed a battery cover pop off of the back of Gnomekop, revealing a hexagonal talisman with an icon of a rat emblazoned on it.

"It's a toy!" she realized with shock.

The various Multimice copies began merging with each other and growing in size, until they were united as a single Multimouse once more. She darted past the agitated insects, reached down, and yanked the rat talisman out of the toy's battery case.

There was a soft glow, and the toy ceased moving.

**IT IS DECIDED!**

There was a flash of light and suddenly Marinette found herself back in her room, detransformed, but the Mouse Miraculous still hung around her neck. In her hand was the rat talisman.

"MARINETTE!" Tikki squeaked, the small Ladybug Kwami shot out of nowhere and glomped Marinette's cheek.

"That was terrifying." Mullo squeaked. Marinette suddenly rushed over to her desk where an antique phonograph sat, and began punching in the buttons on the secret panel. The Miracle Box rose out of the top of the phonograph and opened, revealing the Bee, Fox, and Turtle Miraculouses still resting in the topmost layer.

However the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Snake, Horse, Dog, Monkey, Goat, Dragon, Pig, and Rooster Miraculous were all missing.

"Oh my…How?" Tikki squeaked.

Marinette just swallowed and looked at the Rat Talisman in her hand. Whoever had abducted her…they clearly weren't done yet. This nightmare had only just begun.


	2. Snake

**Zodiac War**

**Snake**

Adrien blinked.

"Wait, what?" He asked frowning.

Just moments ago, he had been Chat Noir, on the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral, talking to Ladybug on his baton. She had called him to inform him that a dozen of the Miraculous were missing, and she was in a panic. That had literally been seconds ago.

Now he was Adrien, again, standing in a weird forest filled with very weirdly shaped trees. Something that looked vaguely like octopi and vaguely like monkeys were swinging from tree branch to tree branch.

He was still wearing his ring.

"Plagg, Claws Out!" he yelled. Nothing happened. No protests of indignance, no whining for Camembert cheese.

"Plagg?" He asked, frowning.

"I do not see him, Master," a calmer, cooler voice said, floating up next to him.

"Sass!" Adrien yelped in surprise, and then glanced at his arm, realizing that the Snake Miraculous was on his left hand.

"I'm afraid so, Master," Sass said grimly.

"I don't like this," Adrien said, looking around through the mists, wishing desperately that he had his cat-like senses again.

"The feeling is mutual, Sir," Sass said quietly. "I believe we have both been abducted. To what end I do not know."

"What is that, an Elephant?" Adrien asked, gesturing towards a vaguely large shape lumbering along in the mists ahead of them, roughly a football field's length away.

Sass zipped through the woods towards the large lumbering shape, then in a panic shot back to Adrien.

"That is definitely not an elephant," he whispered. "And I suggest we move in the opposite direction."

"Sass," Adrien said. "I'm feeling a little vulnerable. Do you mind?"

"Of course not," Sass replied. "It is my purpose as a Kwami."

"I always forget how…Not-Plagg the other Kwamis are," Adrien said chuckling.

"The embodiment of Destruction is certainly…Unique," Sass replied.

Adrien nodded. "Sass! Scales Slither!"

The small mint green Kwami was swept into the ring, and with a wave of green light, Adrien was wearing a green full body snake-suit, with an egg-hood covering up most of his face, save his mouth,

A Lyre appeared in his hand, the signature weapon of the Snake-Themed Hero.

He glanced at the Lyre, and then quickly slung it onto his back. He quickly darted into the forest, moving in the opposite direction as the vague lumbering shapes/

Aspik—The name Adrien had given himself the last time he wielded the Snake Miraculous—Made his way down a hill, taking stock of strange…tropical fish…flittering through the air around him like birds.

He paused, noticing a pile of orange slime at the base of one of the trees. Deciding that he didn't want to touch it, he nimbly leapt around it and continued forward, almost running over an Isreali woman in her mid-thirties.

"Whoa! Kid, are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm…fine," Aspik frowned, looking her over. "Do you know how we got here?"

She shook her head. "One minute I was going over security footage for my job…and then…I was here. What exactly are you wearing? Love the snake motif, but that's definitely a unique set of PJs."

"I'm…a Superhero. Aspik," Aspik replied.

The woman cocked an eyebrow. "Ooookay. Call me Viper."

"And you're questioning Aspik?"

**CHAMPIONSSSSS! **A raspy hissing voice echoed through the forest..

"I don't trust this," Aspik said, instantly reaching for his bracelet. "SECOND CHANCE!"

**We have brought you here, to thissss neutral Universe, to determine your powersss and ssskillsss. Each of you possessessss an enchanted object that containssss infused Zodiac Magic. The first to claim the talisman from their opponent will be returned home with their sssspoils!**

"Sorry kid," Viper said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small hexagonal talisman with a snake icon on it. "But I'm not going to let myself get stuck here by playing nice."

The snake icon lit up and Viper vanished.

"What the?!" Aspik yelped, looking around. He grabbed the lyre off of his back and held it up defensively.

He felt a soft tug at the snake miraculous, and realized that it was sliding off of his hand.

"SECOND CHANCE!"

**We have brought you here, to thissss neutral Universe, to determine your powersss and ssskillsss. Each of you possessessss an enchanted object that containssss infused Zodiac Magic. The first to claim the talisman from their opponent will be returned home with their sssspoils!**

"Sorry kid," Viper said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small hexagonal talisman with a snake icon on it. "But I'm not going to let myself get stuck here by playing nice."

Before Viper could activate the snake talisman this time, Aspik grabbed his lyre and jammed it over Viper's hand, knocking the talisman loose, it clattered to the ground and began rolling down the hill.

Viper suddenly leapt backwards, kicking Apsik in the face and knocking him backwards, clutching his jaw. She did a backflip down the hill and snatched up the snake Talisman. It lit up and she vanished.

"SECOND CHANCE!"

**We have brought you here, to thissss neutral Universe, to determine your powersss and ssskillsss. Each of you possessessss an enchanted object that containssss infused Zodiac Magic. The first to claim the talisman from their opponent will be returned home with their sssspoils!**

"Sorry kid," Viper said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small hexagonal talisman with a snake icon on it. "But I'm not going to let myself get stuck here by playing nice."

Aspik wasted no time this time, instead running back up the hill and towards the lumbering creatures that he had run from before. He didn't get far before running into a soft squishy tree trunk. Or…he thought that it was a tree trunk. The creature he had run from before looked like some nightmare child of a squid and an Elephant. It reached out with a long tentacle and wrapped around Aspik.

He swore under his breath as the creature lifted him up.

"SECOND CHANCE!"

**We have brought you here, to thissss neutral Universe, to determine your powersss and ssskillsss. Each of you possessessss an enchanted object that containssss infused Zodiac Magic. The first to claim the talisman from their opponent will be returned home with their sssspoils!**

"Sorry kid," Viper said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small hexagonal talisman with a snake icon on it. "But I'm not going to let myself get stuck here by playing nice."

Aspik threw his lyre like a boomerang at Viper, knocking the talisman loose from her hand, and sending it flying. She blinked but then lunged towards Aspik, nimbly grabbing his arm and attempting to yank the bracelet off of his hand.

"NO! SECOND CHANCE!"

**We have brought you here, to thissss neutral Universe, to determine your powersss and ssskillsss. Each of you possessessss an enchanted object that containssss infused Zodiac Magic. The first to claim the talisman from their opponent will be returned home with their sssspoils!**

"Sorry kid," Viper said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small hexagonal talisman with a snake icon on it. "But I'm not going to let myself get stuck here by playing nice."

Aspik jammed the lyre over her hand again, knocking the talisman loose, and sending it rolling down the hill again. She attempted to kick him in the face again, as she had before, but he blocked it, using his enhanced strength to shove her down the hill himself.

She slid down in surprise.

"I'm pretty impressed kid," she said. "But I'm a master thief, and with invisibility on my side, well…"

She snatched up the talisman, it began glowing and she vanished.

"SECOND CHANCE!"

**We have brought you here, to thissss neutral Universe, to determine your powersss and ssskillsss. Each of you possessessss an enchanted object that containssss infused Zodiac Magic. The first to claim the talisman from their opponent will be returned home with their sssspoils!**

"Sorry kid," Viper said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small hexagonal talisman with a snake icon on it. "But I'm not going to let myself get stuck here by playing nice."

Aspik jammed the lyre onto her hand once more, but reached up to snatch the talisman while it fell this time…and Viper suddenly slipped backwards, knocking the talisman away from him, and grinned.

There was a flash of light and Aspik's transformation fell, reverting him to Adrien.

"Sorry again, kid," Viper said picking up the snake talisman.

**IT IS DECIDED!**

Viper and the Snake Miraculous vanished in front of Adrien's eyes, leaving Adrien alone in the forest.

"Oh crap," Adrien murmured.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And as soon as I realized that I was back here," Viper said quietly. "I was on the first flight to San Fran. You guys are my go-to for the mystical stuff. I need to know what I've got here, and the floating snake guy isn't exactly helpful."

"I am not a snake," Sass said coldly. "I am a Kwami. A Quantic god. And my owner is in mortal peril because of you."

"Viper," Uncle Chan murmured. "This is…Alien Magic."

"Alien magic!" Jade Chan yelled delightedly. "Like! E.T. Phone Sorcery!?"

"Not Alien Magic like from outer space," Uncle snapped. "Alien Magic as in not from THIS Universe. This bracelet comes from another version of reality."

"Um, I should probably mention that I had this too," Viper said, quietly setting the Snake Talisman on Uncle's desk.

"The snake talisman?!" Jade yelped. "But…Shendu has all of the Talismans. And he's locked away in…"

"It seems that Shendu has been relieved of the talismans," Uncle murmured. He glanced at Sass, and then at the Snake Talisman.

"Snake vs. Snake," Viper said. "Can't be a coincidence, right?"

"Viper," Uncle said. "You were the first person to use the Snake Talisman power in over a hundred years, yes?"

"I think that's right," she said shrugging.

"Interesting," Sass said. "The boy you took my miraculous from was the first one to use _it's_ power in over a hundred years as well. Doubly interesting given that he's not USUALLY my owner, someone else is."

Uncle glanced at Sass and then at the snake talisman.

"Kwami," Uncle whispered. "Is…Your 'miraculous' part of a set?"

"Yes," Sass confirmed. "There are 19 Miraculous from my Miracle Box. The Ladybug and Black Cat, of course. The Fox, the Turtle, the Bee, the Peafowl, and the Butterfly in the top layer. And then of course my fellow Zodiac Kwamis."

"One for each animal of the Chinese Zodiac," Uncle said. "Aiiiiyaaaa! We are all in grave danger! We must do research! Tohru! Tohru? Where is Uncle's Apprentice?"

"Huh," Jade said, frowning and looking around. "He was here a second ago."

"I didn't know that the big guy was that quiet," Viper said.

"Aiiiiyaaaaa!" Uncle yelped. "It has already begun!"


End file.
